Polls show King leading attorney general race

August 31, 2010

The Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE — Some 48 percent of likely New Mexico voters are backing Democratic incumbent New Mexico Attorney General Gary King, while 33 percent support his Republican challenger, eastern New Mexico prosecutor Matt Chandler, according to a poll released Tuesday.

Nineteen percent of those questioned were undecided, the Albuquerque Journal reported in a copyright story.

“Chandler has an uphill battle here, and would have to raise a lot of money, and spend it well, in order to win this election,” said pollster Brian Sanderoff, president of Research and Polling Inc., which conducted the poll.

The Albuquerque-based firm’s poll is based on telephone interviews Aug. 23-27 with 942 randomly selected registered voters statewide. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

King, who is seeking a second term, is a former legislator and the son of the late former three-term Gov. Bruce King. Chandler is district attorney for eastern New Mexico’s Curry and Roosevelt counties.

According to the poll, King had the support of 71 percent of the Democrats questioned, while Chandler had support of 71 percent of the Republicans. Sixteen percent of Republicans backed King, while 10 percent of Democrats supported Chandler. The margin of error in the poll is greater for such subsamples.

Nearly a third of independent voters — 31 percent — were undecided. Some 40 percent of the independents polled backed King while 27 percent backed Chandler.

King was backed by 62 percent of Hispanic voters while Chandler was supported by 22 percent. Each candidate had 41 percent of the Anglo voters.